Research Opportunities for Undergraduates

Get ready to make the next big discovery

You don’t have to be a graduate student to conduct research in the College of Arts and Sciences—in fact, you don’t even have to wait until you’re a junior or senior. The College offers a range of programs that allow you to get hands-on research experience starting as early as the summer before your freshman year. And with three schools, 70+ departments , and 50+ research centers and institutes in the College, you’re sure to find an area of study that interests you.

In addition to the opportunities highlighted on this page, many College departments and programs offer additional research opportunities—ask your academic advisor for more information.

Integrated Freshman Learning Experience

You can start conducting research before you even begin your freshman year when you participate in the Integrated Freshman Learning Experience (IFLE). As an IFLE student, you’ll come to campus the summer before your freshman year for an intensive six-week research experience. You’ll be paired with a faculty mentor who will help you carry out an independent research project.

When the school year begins, you’ll participate in a research-based honors course that will allow you to delve even further into your area of study.

Biology + Neuroscience

Freshman Biology and Neuroscience major Ilinca Ungureanu is gaining hands-on research experience in the Newman Memory Lab, one of more than 60 laboratories located in the College’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. There, she studies memory by behaviorally training rats to complete tasks inside a maze. As the rats run through the maze, she records their neural signals to see if their brains show traveling waves in the layers of the entorhinal cortex, a network for memory and navigation. “It’s cool not only to see the classroom version of neuroscience, but to also see it in real life as we go into the field and make discoveries,” she says.

Ilinca Ungureanu

Science, Technology, and Research Scholars

Launch your research career in the Science, Technology, and Research Scholars (STARS) program, where you’ll get four years of research experience as you earn course credit.

As a STARS participant, you’ll begin working in a research lab the first semester of your freshman year under the guidance of a faculty mentor, who will train you on research methods and help you develop an independent research project. You’ll also have opportunities to publish your work in scientific journals, present at conferences, and more.

Meet our mentors

Research Experiences for Undergraduates

Get hands-on experience in a research lab through Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), intensive summer research programs offered by selected departments and centers in the College of Arts and Sciences. Though REU programs vary among departments, they typically last eight weeks and include opportunities for participants to work closely with a faculty mentor on a research project and present their findings at the conclusion of the program.